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1. Pharaoh's Fears and Israel's Faith (Exodus 1)
Introduction to This Series
"The trouble with the Bible … is that so much of it is Old Testament. And the trouble with the Old Testament is just that. It is old. Now, of course, for some things, oldness speaks of permanence and lasting, even increasing, value. For other things, oldness spells outmoded, obsolete and irrelevant. Which category does the Old Testament belong to?"1
In the prologue to his excellent book, An Eye for an Eye: The Place of Old Testament Ethics Today, Christopher J. H. Wright raises a question which troubles many Christians today. And for those whom it does not trouble, it should. It is with a great deal of enthusiasm and expectation that I commence this Old Testament study, beginning with the Book of Exodus.2 I believe we will find, as Wright's excellent book shows, that the Old Testament is a book rich in relevance to the New Testament saint.
Specifically, this series begins with the "birth" of the nation Israel, as described in the Book of Exodus, a book rich in themes which will recur in the Old and New Testaments.3 While we will not cover this book in a thorough, chapter-by-chapter analysis, we will begin our study in chapter 1, which sets the stage for the drama of the Exodus.
Introduction to This Message
Francis Shaeffer has written a book entitled God is There and He is Not Silent. Without disagreeing with this book or its message, I do believe that there are times when God is there, but He is, at least from our perspective, silent. I believe that you can see this in the Psalms when the psalmist cries out to God, as it were, "Where are you, God?"4 Have you not experienced times in your life, especially times of adversity, when it appeared as though God was not present? The period of time depicted in the first chapter of Exodus is one of those times—a time when from all appearances, God was silent. Nevertheless, God was there. We shall learn to see His hand in those "silent times" as we study this first chapter of Exodus more carefully.
Linking the Past and the Present
Verses 1-7 serve to link the events of the Book of Genesis5 and those recorded in the Book of Exodus. These two books were intended to be understood in relationship to each other.6 Verses 1-6 sum up the history of Israel as a clan, as described more thoroughly in Genesis, chapters 12-50. These six verses remind us that all that is going to take place in this book is directly related to what has gone before as described in Genesis.7 The curse of God in Genesis 3 included hard toil, which is surely the lot of Israel in Egypt. The salvation of mankind, as promised also in Genesis 3, was through the birth of a child. So too it was through the birth of a child (Moses, Exod. 2) that God provided a deliverer for His people. As men strove to provide themselves with security and significance by the building of a city and a tower, using bricks and mortar, so Egypt sought to secure herself by forcing the Israelites to build cities with bricks and mortar (compare Gen. 11 with Exod. 1:14; 5:1ff.).
Most importantly, this portion of the introduction to the Book of Exodus (Exod. 1:1-6) links the existence and rapid growth of Israel as a nation to the covenant which God made with Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:12ff.), and which He reiterated to the patriarchs (Isaac: Gen. 26:2-5, 24; Jacob: Gen. 28:13-15). The sons of Israel and their families numbered 70 (v. 5) when they arrived in Egypt,8 a mere clan. But when the "sons of Israel" leave Egypt, they do so as a great nation (Exod. 1:7, 12, 20; 12:37).
Verse 7 fills in a nearly 400-year gap covering the period from the death of Joseph9 to the time of the Exodus. If it were not for this verse and the remainder of chapter one, we would know little of this period of time.
A moment's reflection will cause us to remember that there are other periods in history which are likewise neglected in the biblical record. There is, for example, the 400-year period of silence between the post-exilic prophets (Malachi, for example), and the books of the New Testament.10 There is also the period of silence from the time of the close of the New Testament canon (the Book of Revelation) to the present day.
What should we conclude from those periods in time which biblical revelation seems to pass over unmentioned? Shall we say that these periods of time, the events and the people involved, are of no concern or interest to God? Certainly not. Shall we say that because God is silent about these times (at least in the Scriptures), He is not only uninterested, but also uninvolved?
Personally, I conclude that there are times when God is there, but when He is silent. By this I mean that God is at work, but that He is not, at that moment in time, telling us what He is doing, nor is He publicly displaying His purposes or His power. At such times (and at other times as well) God is at work providentially. He is at work behind the scenes, and in ways that at the time are not immediately apparent. Verses 8-22 focus on the particular things which God was doing during this period of persecution which are important to the purpose of the Book of Exodus. These verses give us a great deal of insight into those periods of time when God appears to be silent, when He is at work providentially, bringing His purposes to pass, or preparing history for another of His dramatic interventions into the affairs of men.
Lest we conclude that God is altogether silent about certain periods of history, let me remind you that even though God may not record the history of a certain period in detail, He will often foretell of the events in order to prepare those who will live in such times. For example, this 400-year period of time was the subject of a divine revelation to Abraham, long before it would take place:
Then the Lord said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure" (Gen. 15:13-16).
This brief prophetic description of this dark period of time in Israel's history is proof of the faithfulness of God with regard to the fulfillment of His promises. Abraham's descendants did dwell in Egypt, under bondage, for 400 years. They were brought forth, and with great riches given freely by the Egyptians. They did return to the promised land, just as God had promised.
So too events occurring in other periods of time concerning which the Scriptures have been silent (the 400-year inter-testamental period and the time from the close of the New Testament canon until now) have been foretold in advance by means of prophecy. Through Daniel (e.g. chapter 2) the kingdoms of the world were foretold. And through various Old and New Testament prophecies, the events of the last days and of the return of Christ are described. Thus, God has prepared men, in advance, for those periods of relative silence.
As we leave verses 1-7 let us keep two words in mind which will enable us to summarize the role of this section. The two words are CONTINUITY and CONTRAST. We are reminded of the continuity of God's program by the fact that the promises and purposes of God commenced in the Book of Genesis are continued in the Book of Exodus. We see the contrast between these two books: a small handful of men entered Egypt to dwell with Joseph, but a great multitude will leave Egypt with Moses to dwell in the promised land. It is this rapid growth of Israel, in fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham and in preparation for possessing the land, which was the result of God's providential dealings with Israel under the cruel hand of the Egyptians.11 Let us look then at the providential hand of God in this period of Israel's history.
A New King and a New Policy
When Joseph brought his family to be with him in Egypt, they came to the "best of the land" (Gen. 47:6,11). Even at this time there was an underlying prejudice against the Israelites as Hebrews (Gen. 43:32) and as shepherds (Gen. 46:34). There is considerable disagreement among the scholars as to the identity of this "new king, who did not know about Joseph" (Exod. 1:8). Much of the problem hinges on the date of the Exodus, a matter which we shall not discuss here in detail.12 Keeping with an early date for the Exodus, it is most likely that the king referred to here was new in a very significant sense. He represented not only a new person, but also very likely a new dynasty.
An Asiatic people of Semitic origin (thus, related to the Hebrews) began to migrate into Egypt, eventually gaining control of the government at a time of weakness and confusion during the Second Intermediate Period. The Hyksos13 ruled for about 150 years during the time of Israel's sojourn in Egypt, from about 1700 to 1550 B.C. The Hyksos kings were "Egyptianized," assuming the title of Pharaoh,14 and adopting the gods of Egypt. The Hyksos capital was very close to Goshen where the Israelites had settled in Egypt. It would seem that the "new king" of Exodus 1:8 was a Hyksos king, and he would thus truly be "new" as Moses has indicated, especially if he succeeded an Egyptian king. Note also that he is not called an Egyptian. In the light of these considerations, Davis suggests the following rendering of verse 10: "Come on, let us [Hyksos] deal wisely with them [Israelites], lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when war occurs, they join also unto our enemies [the Egyptians], and fight against us [Hyksos], and so get them up out of the land."15
If indeed a small minority of Hyksos had gained control over Egypt, it is not a surprise that these "foreigners" would have had no knowledge of Joseph. In fact, there would very likely be a tendency to try to blot out the past and to create a new allegiance to the Hyksos dynasty. It would also explain the fear of the Hyksos king that the Israelites might join with their enemies (the Egyptians) to overthrow their (foreign) rule.
The fears of the Pharaoh (be he a Hyksos or an Egyptian) are of interest: "Look," he said to his people, "the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country" (Exod. 1:9-10).
He feared the numerical strength of the Israelites, and sought to diminish them. He feared that they would become allies with the enemy against their rule, and would overcome them and leave Egypt. Interestingly, everything Pharaoh feared came to pass, in spite of his diligent efforts to prevent it. The reason is, of course, that the Pharaoh's plans were contrary to the purposes and promises of God with regard to His people.
Pharaoh's plan, which was readily adopted by the people, was to enslave the Israelites, and to tighten their control over them. A substantial part of this plan seems to be that of intimidation and oppression, so demoralizing and frightening the Israelites that they would not dare to resist their masters. In addition, their value as slave labor would be utilized to strengthen the nation both economically and militarily. The storage cities of Pithom and Rameses16 were built by the Israelites with brick and mortar,17 and the fields were worked by them as well. Josephus claims that Israelite manpower was also used to dig canals.18
Just as Israel had greatly multiplied during the time of Joseph (cf. Gen. 47:27) and after his death (Exod. 1:7), so they continued to multiply under the cruel hand of their taskmasters: But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians19 came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly (Exod. 1:12-13).
The Egyptian response to the continued phenomenal numerical growth of the Israelites was to increase the workload and to intensify the harassment and cruelty imposed on them by their taskmasters (1:14). It is apparent that these tactics did not work, which led to an even more evil plot directed against the people of God, as outlined in verses 15-21.
Pharaoh and the Midwives
Considerable time had passed since the first stage of oppression had been initiated, as described in verses 1-11. Frustrated by the utter failure of previous administrations to curtail the rapid growth of the Israelites, concern seemed to have turned to near panic. It was one thing to outnumber the Hyksos, a mere fraction of the population of Egypt. It was quite another to threaten the Egyptians themselves. The birth rate must be dramatically changed. To bring this about, the Pharaoh turned to the Hebrew20 midwives,21 two of whom are mentioned specifically here,22 either as specific examples, or as leaders.
Pharaoh's demands are incredible. First of all, this is an abominable act of violence against the innocent. Second, I am amazed that Pharaoh passes on all responsibility for the death of these Hebrew infants. He wants the midwives to solve this national dilemma of the Hebrew birth rate. The plan is virtually unworkable. How were the boy children to be "terminated"? Were the deaths to look accidental? How could Pharaoh expect any Hebrew woman to call for a midwife if it were known that all boy babies were somehow dying at their hand? I see here a poorly conceived (pardon the pun) plan, decreed by a desperate man.
The midwives feared God more than Pharaoh, and so they refused to put the infant boys to death (1:17). This infuriated the Pharaoh, who summoned the midwives and demanded an explanation. They respond that the Hebrew women were in such good physical condition that their children were born too quickly, before they could even arrive to help (1:19). Whether or not this was the full explanation,23 it ironically points to the affliction of the Israelites as a boon to child-bearing, rather than as a hindrance. The previous plan had backfired in the Pharaoh's face. Hard work produced more Hebrew babies.
For their fear of God, these midwives were rewarded in two ways. The first blessing is more immediately evident than the second. The first blessing was that of being fruitful themselves: "So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own" (Exod. 1:20-21).
Hyatt suggests one possible reason why child-bearing may have been a special blessing to these midwives: "It is possible that barren women were regularly used as midwives; if so, their reward is that they become fertile and have families."24 The blessing of bearing children was not denied the Hebrew women, and neither was it denied the Hebrew midwives.
There is another blessing not as apparent but very significant, I believe. If someone asked you the names of the midwives, what would you answer? From this text you could quickly respond, "Shiphrah and Puah." Now if I asked you the names of any of the pharaohs mentioned in this chapter, could you respond from this text? No! Many have speculated as to the identity of the pharaohs, but this is still speculation. Think of it, the highest official in the land, old "what's his name." These men's names were known and feared by millions, but we don't even know who they were. And this in spite of such massive projects as the building of pyramids and extensive efforts as mummifying the bodies of kings.
Unfortunately, some have failed to see that the omission of the names of the pharaohs is deliberate, and in contrast to the naming of the midwives.25 What a gracious gift of God to these two God-fearing Hebrew midwives—He records their names for an example to believers throughout the centuries. God doesn't really care that much about the name of the king, king "what's his name," but He is intimately concerned with Shiphrah and Puah, for they trust and obey Him. What better honor than to be known and remembered by God.
As I have considered the naming of the midwives but not the Pharaoh's, my mind turned to some interesting passages of Scripture. I am reminded of the biblical proverb which says, "The memory of the righteous will be a blessing, But the name of the wicked will rot" (Prov. 10:7), and of the psalmist who prayed: "May his descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation. … May their sins always remain before the Lord, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth" (Ps. 109:13,15).
God cares not about your position or your prestige in life, my friend. He cares only if you fear Him and have trusted in His Son, Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins and eternal life. If you are His child, by faith, He knows you by name. If not, no matter what your earthly splendor or power, you are a "what's his name" to God, and you will spend eternity away from His presence.
The futility of the Pharaoh's military conquests and building projects is typified by this poem of Shelley:
I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings;
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.26
Overshadowing the figure of the Pharaoh, the heroes of our chapter are Shiphrah and Puah. They feared God more than men. They applied that fear of God to the practical outworkings of their day-to-day lives. They lived their faith where God had put them. It was not such a dramatic thing to do (daring, but not dramatic), but it revealed a faith that would not disobey the living God. Would that there were more saints of this variety today—saints who would live out their faith in whatever arena God has placed them, a faith that if necessary will defy the highest power in the land.
A Final Futile Effort
Pharaoh's attempt to indirectly destroy the Israelite boy children had miserably failed. What he had attempted to do in a clandestine, underhanded fashion, Pharaoh will now demand openly: "Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: 'Every boy that is born you must throw into the river, but let every girl live'" (Exod. 1:22). The intent of this decree is obvious. Pharaoh hopes not only to destroy the boy babies, but to enslave all the girl children, thus wiping out Israel as a distinct nation in one generation.27 What Pharaoh failed to discern was that he was simply a pawn of Satan, who was seeking to wipe out the seed from which Messiah was to come:
What Pharaoh did was, without his knowledge, a battle of the "serpent" against the "woman's seed" (Gen. 3:15). For with the extermination of the Jews the coming of the Redeemer would have been made impossible, because, since Abraham, the promise concerning the Seed of the woman and the Treader-down of the serpent was definitely connected with this people (Gen. 12:1-3; John 4:22; Gal. 3:16).28
The struggle between Satan and "the seed" is one that can be found throughout biblical history. Satan has sought to corrupt the seed through the Canaanites (cf. Gen. 38; Num. 25). Now, at the time of the Exodus, he seeks to annihilate the seed by murder. Later on Satan will employ the jealousy of Herod, who will attempt to overthrow the "King of the Jews" by murdering many innocent children (Matt. 2).
The decree to murder the boy babies by drowning them is a part of Satan's diabolical plan to destroy the seed which will destroy him. Once again Pharaoh puts the responsibility for killing infants on someone else, this time, the Egyptian people it would seem, or perhaps, the Hebrew parents: "Every boy that is born you must throw into the river, but let every girl live" (Exod. 1:22). It is this command which provides the backdrop for the drama of chapter 2, where the deliverer of Israel is born.
The application of these verses to the present American abomination of abortion on demand should be obvious. There is a deadly sequence of events in Exodus 1 which closely parallels the origins and rise of abortion in America. It begins with a disdain for those who threaten our self-interests. The Egyptians disdained the Israelites who seemed to endanger their position of power and prestige, just as Americans disdain children as an economic liability and an unwanted burden. The killing of the Israelites began as a matter of national policy, just as the Supreme Court's decision opened the door to the mass slaughter of the innocent unborn. The killing is subtle at first, and then much more blatant. Pharaoh seemed to want the midwives to arrange for the death of the boy babies, making murder appear to be a result of the birth process. Finally, the boy babies were commanded to be thrown (after their birth) into the Nile. So too in our day, the abortions which once were allowed early in pregnancy now are performed very late, and children are also terminated after birth as well. Just as the murder of the babies was selective (boys only) in Egypt, so we kill babies for being of the "wrong" sex or for having a possible imperfection which may make our lives inconvenient. Let us not avoid seeing the great similarities between the murder of the infants in that day and in our own. Let us be like those midwives and have no part in such murder.
From a human perspective, things in Egypt have gone "from bad to worse" so far as the Israelites are concerned. A sojourn which began with a royal welcome by decree became slavery and then deteriorated to a plot to kill the Hebrew boy babies and to enslave the girl children. It would seem that things could hardly get worse. One might wonder if God was aware of what was taking place, and, if so, why He was not more involved.
As we consider the events of Exodus 1 we need to recognize that there are several points of view. From the human perspective, there is the selfish and sinful motivation of the Pharaoh and the people of Egypt, willing to sacrifice the Israelites to their own self-interest. There is also the perspective of the Israelites who may well have wondered where the God of their fathers was. The perspective of the Hebrew midwives should be our model. While they did not understand all that was going on, they did fear God, and they refused to obey the orders of Pharaoh when they were contrary to the will of God.
Then too there is the supernatural perspective which recognizes in all of the events of this chapter the hand of Satan, seeking to thwart the purposes of God by using the rulers of this world to his own ends. The battle between the Serpent and the seed is not to be overlooked in this Egyptian episode.
Finally, there is the divine perspective. God was achieving His purposes and promises largely unnoticed by any of the actors in this divine drama. The affliction and bondage of which God had foretold Abraham (Gen. 15:12-16) is fulfilled in this first chapter of Exodus. Through the bondage and adversity of those 430 years (cf. Exod. 12:40) a number of purposes were being providentially fulfilled. Let me briefly enumerate some of the "blessings" which resulted from the sufferings of the Israelites in Egypt.
(1) Israel was spared from absorption by the Canaanites through intermarriage by being sent to Egypt, where that nation's prejudice precluded the kind of intermingling which was common in Canaan (cf. Gen. 38).
(2) Judgment on the Canaanites was delayed until her sins were filled to the brim (cf. Gen. 15:14-16).
(3) The light of God's salvation was taken to the Egyptians by the Israelites. The multitude of those who left Egypt included some who were Egyptians.
(4) Israel was enabled to grow from a handful of people (70 men) to a great multitude. Can you imagine a clan of 70 men attempting to possess Canaan?
(5) God was preparing Israel physically for the rigors required in the wilderness and militarily for the warfare with the Canaanites. Also, God was preparing for the economic needs of the nation with a forced savings plan that put necessary capital in the hands of the Israelites when they left Egypt (cp. Gen. 15:14; Exod. 12:35-36).
Noting these benefits of the Egyptian sojourn, we can see that God was providentially working for the benefit of His people. We can therefore derive several principles from this passage which will help us in those times when the hand of God is not evident and when the forces of evil seem to be prevailing.
First, God's purposes are being fulfilled, even when we are not actively involved in bringing them to pass.
Second, God's purposes are being fulfilled, even when we are not aware of it and when every appearance points to the contrary.
Third, when this is the case, God has often previously announced prophetically what He is going to do during such times of apparent silence.
Fourth, when God is "silent" we must live by faith (as at all other times) and by the principles of His word.
Fifth, God's purposes are as easily achieved in adversity as they are in comfort, and as readily accomplished through unbelievers as through the saints.
Sixth, there are great similarities between these experiences of Israel and the events of the last days before our Lord's return.29
Finally, I want to say a word about God's "editorial policy" as it is reflected in this chapter. The fact that God chooses to describe, in sketchy terms, a period of 400 years is an evidence of His sovereignty. But God does things for a purpose. As I thought through the message of this chapter, I realized that God has a purpose for what He does not say as well as for what He does reveal in the Scriptures. God has chosen to say little about the 400 years of Israel's bondage in Egypt. The emphasis of what He does say is on the good intended which God was bringing out of the evil Pharaoh, Egypt, and the Evil One (cp. Gen. 50:20).
It occurred to me that God's "editorial policy," as reflected in Exodus 1, is diametrically opposed to that of the media today. If we were to read a secular account of this period in Israel's history, we would have much more space devoted to the afflictions of the Israelites. We would have gruesome pictures, in full color, of sweaty Israelites, stumbling along in the slimy mud pits, making their bricks. We would have numerous "human interest" stories, all focusing on the plight of these people and the cruelty of the Egyptians.
This is not the emphasis of Exodus 1. Oh, we are told of the cruelty of the Egyptians and of the sufferings of the Israelites, but the emphasis of the chapter is on the faithfulness of God to His purposes, His promises, and His people. The thrust of the chapter is that in spite of Egypt's efforts, God's people miraculously grew in number and in strength. In all of this, God was preparing His people for deliverance and Egypt for judgment. God's purposes were sure, and those whom God blessed were those who feared Him. God's "editorial policy" is to deal briefly with human grief and misery, and to focus upon God's grace and faithfulness. When you look at our chapter in this light, you can see that this is the case.
Let me ask you about your "editorial policy." Every one of us "edits," as it were the circumstances of our lives. The worrier edits out all of the good things, all of the positive possibilities, and highlights every element of possible pain and disaster. The grumbler edits out all of the blessings of God and focuses on those things which were painful and unpleasant. Faith edits life's circumstances differently. It recognizes all of the evils of this life, but it does not emphasize them. Faith chooses to focus upon the purposes, the promises, and the power of God, and looks for His hand at work, preserving His people, and preparing them for the blessings which are to come. I urge you, my friend, to establish an "editorial policy" for the circumstances of your life which is like that of Moses, the human author of Exodus.
1 Christopher J. H. Wright, An Eye for an Eye: The Place of Old Testament Ethics Today (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1983), p. 12.
2 The reason I have chosen to begin this series here is that I have already dealt with the Book of Genesis in 50 lessons.
3 "It would be hard to find a single major topic of Old, or even New, Testament that is not exemplified in the Book of Exodus. Many of the themes, used later in the Bible, actually take their rise in this book, in the interpreted experience of Israel, through the great events that led to her foundation as a people." R. Alan Cole, Exodus: An Introduction and Commentary (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1973), p. 19. I highly recommend Cole's commentary as the first commentary you purchase in your study of the Book of Exodus.
4 Cf. Psalm 73:1-14; 74:1ff.; 77:7-9; 79:1-5.
5 Genesis may have been written about the time of the Exodus. Since we believe Moses to be the author, it could not have been written sooner than shortly before the Exodus. Genesis would have provided an excellent backdrop for the Exodus, providing Israel with a reminder of her roots and of the basis for God's blessings which were soon to be experienced.
6 "The initial 'and' found in the Hebrew makes clear that Exodus is not a new book, but simply the continuation of the Genesis story, and the fulfillment of the promises made to the partiarchs. But this is an appropriate place for a break: it is the last time in the Pentateuch that 'sons of Israel' is used to describe Jacob's immediate family. From now on, the phrase will be a collective patronymic, describing the whole people of God, formed like any Arabic tribal name." Cole, p. 53.
7 There are certain literary allusions which are intended to make these connections between Exodus and Genesis. For example the expression, "were fruitful and multiplied" (Exod. 1:7), is an allusion to the early chapters of Genesis: "The Hebrew deliberately repeats three verbs used in Genesis 1:21,22 which may be translated 'were fruitful … swarmed … became numerous.' This increase was interpreted as God's promised blessing on His creation. A considerable time had passed since Joseph's death: at the very shortest reckoning, Moses was the fourth generation after Levi (Nu. 26:58) and he may have been many hundred years later (Ex. 12:40)." Cole, p. 53.
8 In Genesis 46:26-27 the number of the direct descendants of Jacob, minus the wives of his sons, is 66 (v. 26), with the total number who came to Egypt numbered at 70 (v. 27). In the Septuagint (Greek) translation of this text, the number is 75 which agrees with Acts 7:14. There are various possible solutions to this problem. Davis suggests that the explanation is that the count of 75 would include the five grandsons of Joseph. John J. Davis, Moses and the Gods of Egypt (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1971), p. 44.
"The sons are arranged according to their mothers, as in Genesis 35:23-26, with the sons of the two maidservants appearing last. The number of males that accompanied Jacob is given as 70 in verse 5. This is in agreement with a similar number which appears in Genesis 46:27 and Deuteronomy 10:22; however, the Septuagint reading of this text and Acts 7:14, which is apparently a quotation from the Septuagint text, reads seventy-five souls. … Notice that in Genesis 46:26 the figure of the descendants of Jacob is given as only sixty-six. This is due to the fact that Jacob, Joseph and his two sons were not included in the calculation." Davis, p. 44.
9 In verse 6 the expression "now … but" seems significant to me. The sons of Israel were indeed blessed on account of Joseph, but even after his death, Israel continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Ultimately it was not Joseph who was the cause of Israel's blessings, but God.
10 Even in the period of the life of our Lord, there is a great deal of disproportion (time-wise) evident in the gospels. A fair amount of space is devoted to the birth of our Lord, a very little space to His early childhood (Luke 2:39-52), and a great deal of space to the three years of His earthly ministry (with the greatest emphasis given to the last week of His life). We see selectivity everywhere in the Bible, in terms of what periods of time God has chosen to depict.
11 "Assuming that the original group to enter Egypt was at least 140 persons (the number 70 of verse 5 includes males only), the original population would have had to have doubled fourteen times to produce the number who took part in the exodus (about 2,000,000). This apparently reflects special divine blessing and intervention as promised in the Abrahamic covenant (cf. Gen. 12:2; 15:5)." Davis, pp. 47-48.
12 The vast majority of liberal scholars, along with a few conservatives, hold that the exodus took place in the thirteenth century B.C. As a rule conservative scholars hold to an earlier date of the exodus, in the fifteenth century (ca. 1440 B.C.). For a more extensive discussion of the issues from a conservative viewpoint see Davis (pp. 16-33), or Cole (pp. 40-43). There is also an excellent article cited by Davis entitled: "The Time of the Oppression and the Exodus," by John Rea found in Grace Journal, II, No. 1 (Winter, 1961), pp. 7ff.
13 For a concise treatment of the Hyksos kings, see C. E. Devries, "Hyksos," The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1982), II, pp. 787-788.
14 "Pharaoh is not a personal name, but the equivalent of 'king of Egypt' (vv. 8, 15, 17). The Egyptian word … means 'great house.' In the third millennium B.C. it designated the royal palace, but by 1800 B.C. it had become an epithet for the king. In the XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties it was a royal title, and by the ninth century it was prefixed to the royal name (e.g. Pharaoh Shishak)." J. P. Hyatt, Exodus (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1980), p. 58.
16 The mention of these two cities has become a major argument in support of the exodus late date. See Rea (cited above for a refutation of this) pp. 6-10.
17 The mention of "bricks and mortar" brings to mind the futile efforts of fallen men to build the city and the tower of Babel (cf. Gen. 11:1-4).
19 The term "Egyptians" here may indicate that the period of Hyksos rule has ended, and that the oppression begun by them was continued and even increased by the Egyptian rulers (cf. Rea, p. 8). The general population of Egypt, who had to support such oppression, was the same, even when the government changed hands.
20 There is some discussion as to the precise meaning of the term "Hebrew" here, since it is used in both a narrow and in a broader sense: "The name 'Hebrew' is derived from the name 'Eber' (the opposite, on the other side; Gen. 10:21, 24; 11:4, 15), and rests, apparently upon a family migration, unknown to us, of the forbearers of Abraham from 'beyond' the Jordan … the word 'Hebrew' is at first the description of pre-Abrahamic-Semitic family groups. … Only later did the name become the national description of the Old Testament covenant people as a political and ethnic unit, in contrast to other though related peoples. …" Erich Sauer, The Dawn of World Redemption (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1951), pp. 111-112.
I personally understand these midwives are Israelites. It would have been only natural for the Israelite women to turn to Israelite midwives for help in child-bearing. Also the term "Hebrew" is repeated in 16 with reference to the Israelite women.
21 "The Hebrew word 'midwife' … literally means 'one who helps to bear.' The midwife aided at childbirth by taking the newborn child, cutting its umbilical cord, washing the baby with water, salting, and wrapping it (cf. Ezek. 16:4)." Davis, p. 50.
22 "The name of the first midwife, Shiphrah, appears in nearly the same form in the Brooklyn Museum Papyrus, dated about 1740 B.C." Davis, pp. 49-50.
23 I am inclined to see here a less than complete answer to the Pharaoh. I doubt that what was said was untrue, however. What was not said was that the midwives refused to obey the king of Egypt, choosing rather to obey God than men. Such a bold statement may have cost these women their lives.
25 Hyatt, for example, writes, "… the writer apparently does not know his name." Hyatt, p. 58. This is an even sadder observation when we realize that Hyatt does not even seem to know the name of the author—Moses, and that he thinks Moses didn't know the name of the Pharaoh even though he grew up in the home of the Pharaoh.
26 "Ozy Mandias" by Shelley, The Oxford Anthology of English Poetry, Vol. II, edited by John Wain, (New York: Oxford University Press) 1990, p. 224.
27 "These [daughters] presumably would become slave wives, and so could be absorbed by the Egyptians in a generation." Cole, p. 56.
29 I encourage you to explore the similarities between the conditions described in Exodus 1, before the deliverance of God, and the conditions in the last days, before the return of Christ.


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Since I started learning C a few years ago, I have never been a part of a team that worked on a project. I am very interested to know what are the best practices for writing large projects in C.
One of the things I want to know, is when (not how) do I split my project into different source files? My previous experience is with writing a header-source duo (the functions defined in the header are written in the source).
I want to know what are the best practices for splitting a project, and some pointers on important things when writing a project as part of a team?

subset: commoncrawl


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Iranian arms ship carries fresh, improved Fajar supplies for Gaza
An Iranian 150-ton freighter departed Bandar Abbas port Sunday, Nov. 18, with a cargo of 220 short-range missiles and 50 improved long-range Fajar-5 rockets for the Gaza Strip, debkafile's intelligence sources report. The ship turned toward the Bab al-Mandeb Straits and the Red Sea.
The new Fajar-5s have a 200-kilo warhead, which packs a bigger punch than the 175 kilos of explosives delivered by the rockets in current use with the Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip. To extend their range to cover the 85 kilometers from Gaza to Tel Aviv, Hamas removed a part of their payloads to make them lighter.
Tehran is sending the fresh supply of disassembled rockets to replenish the stocks its allies, the Palestinian Hamas and Jihad Islami, depleted in their round-the-clock attacks on Israel since Nov. 10. .
To throw Israeli surveillance off the trail, the ship started its voyage called Vali-e Asr owned by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, and was quickly renamed Cargo Star and hoisted the flag of Tuvalu. This South Pacific island nation, which lies between Hawaii and Australia, has a tiny population of 11,000, most of them Polynesians. Iran provides most of its revenue since earlier this year when Prime Minister Willy Telavi agreed to register Iran's entire tanker fleet of 22 vessels to Tuvalu, to help Tehran dodge the US-EU oil embargo. (The Tuvalu government says it has since withdrawn its flagging licence from Iran in line with international sanctions.)
Our intelligence sources have learned that four big Sudanese shipping boats sailed out of Port Sudan early Monday and are waiting to rendezvous with the Cargo Star and offload its missile cargo in mid-sea.
The Sudanese will then be told by Tehran whether put into Port Sudan with the missiles, or turn north and sail up the Red Sea to the Straits of Tiran to link up with Egyptian fishing boats which regularly ply this waterway in the service of Palestinian-Iranian smuggling networks. They would unload the missile cargo in a quiet inlet on the Sinai coast. From there, it would be carried to the smuggling tunnels running from Sinai under the border into the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian teams assisted by Iranian and Hizballah technicians in the Gaza Strip would then assemble the new rockets and make them operational.
Through most of the voyage, two Iranian warships, the Khark heliicopter carrier and Shahid Naqdi destroyer, which are posted permanently in the Red Sea, escorted the arms ship until the cargo changed hands.
debkafile's Iranian sources also disclose that the Jihad Islami leader Ramadan Abdullah Shelah was sharply remanded by Tehran for meeting Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo Sunday to discuss terms for halting Israel's counter-missile operation in Gaza now in its sixth day.
Iran bankrolls these Palestinian extremists and has no intention of letting Shelah bow to Cairo's wishes which run counter to Tehran's plans and interests.
While Egypt's new Islamist leaders are intent on carving out for themselves a responsible role in the region by restoring order, solving crises and restraining radicals, radical Iran has its own fish to fry and is bent on escalating war tensions in the Middle East.


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Return to: Divisions and Departments
The curricula in the Fine Arts Department are planned to provide for the educational preparation, cultural enrichment and personal fulfillment of the students and patrons of South Plains College. Courses in Art, Music and Theatre Arts are offered to: (1) provide pre-baccalaureate education for students seeking a career in art, music, and theatre; (2) provide students and the members of the community with quality educational programs and cultural events; (3) serve as an educational resource for students and teachers in the surrounding area; and (4) encourage an avocational interest and participation in the arts.
Activities of the department include performances by the Symphonic Band, the Jazz Band and the Concert Choir; solo recitals; chamber music concerts; and dramatic productions. Performances are presented on the Levelland campus, and in community and school settings throughout the area.
There are frequent exhibitions in the foyer of the Fine Arts Building of faculty and student art works, as well as art produced by a variety of contemporary artists. The Fine Arts Department also houses and displays several works from the Marjorie Merriweather Post Art Collection. These paintings were donated to the college by the late Mrs. Post and include works by noted artists from the eighteenth century to the twentieth century.
Departmental chairperson is Bruce Keeling, professor of music.


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The latest in a series of interviews with artists who have developed a significant body of work engaged (in its process, or in the issues it raises) with technology. See the full list of Artist Profiles here.
"In the distance I see Kimmo Modig. He's walking around Helsinki with his iphone, grumbling about bad art."
Antagon 2013: Proceedings (2013)
Age: 32
Location: Helsinki, Finland.
Jesse Darling: How/when did you begin working creatively with technology?
Kimmo Modig: I remember doing sound collages with boomboxes in my early teens, you know, like having two of them playing something I'd recorded earlier as a backtrack while the third one recorded whatever I was doing live on top of that. I'd repeat this process again and again until the signal-to-noise ratio was heavily weighted towards noise. But already at that time I always wanted to use my voice, to have a narrative of sorts. I've lately been returning to a way of being that I had in my teens, when I was dressing to provoke and performing nude on stage with my childhood friends.
Later on I got into so-called experimental music, and started directing a Helsinki-based organisation called Äänen Lumo (Charm of Sound) between 2008–2011. Nowadays I feel detached from any kind of hacking / DIY / circuit-bending activity. I still get really excited about adventurous music—for example, Bee Mask has blown my mind so many times. Mostly, though, I just listen to the Soundcloud stream—I usually like whatever Jennifer Chan reposts.
I'm increasingly drawing on my background as a sound designer in my work, and I think there will be more of this in the future. I still follow the discussion around sound art, and look for a new, unexpected way to understand it, maybe as a Trojan horse—a tool for artistic expression and as a personal methodology. One of my fave books of late has been Black Sound White Cube by Ina Dieter and Wudtke Lesage, which looks at why Sound Art is predominantly white noise without rhythm. I think someone like Phill Niblock (the godfather of drone music) is very anti-culture, you know, in not wanting to communicate anything with music, in keeping it free of conventional structures such as melody etc. The future of sound in art is in naivety, not surround.
JD: Where did you go to school? What did you study?
I did an MA in sound design at the Theatre Academy, Helsinki. I must stress here that we weren't taught to be technicians but "artist-designers" who dabble with installations, music, collaborative practices and contemporary theatre & performance art. I didn't really click with that many people in school, so I ended up graduating without belonging to a scene or any newly formed company etc. My whole artistic career has been about moving from one scene to the next. I don't have any kind of cohesive or even formative knowledge of anything but just scatter from everywhere.
JD: What does your desktop or workspace look like?
KM: I share a studio with two sound designers and a poet in North central Helsinki. I pay €120 a month. It's more like an office, but luckily there's a recording booth here which is really important for me. My desktop is nothing special I imagine. I mostly use Ableton Live, Premiere, Writeroom, Chrome, and an internet-connection-killing app titled Freedom.
Modig remembers Anatagon's artists before the biennale in a place that doesn't exist anymore.
Remembering Antagon: Artists are mountains (2013)
JD: What do you do for a living or what occupations have you held previously?
I do a lot of things, I suppose, like teaching and DJing and whatnot, though for 2013 I'm on a grant from Kone, a private Finnish foundation. Then there are grants with which I fund projects like Antagon (a biennale I founded in Turku, 2013). I used to be the director for this gallery Titanik for a year; I earned €1500 per month in a 25h/week. That was pretty good, though it was mostly paperwork, which I found frustrating. A big problem in the art world, at least here in Finland, is that nobody is trusted to make real decisions, so all the good ideas and radical energy get killed by faceless boards and committees.
This is a larger issue and it has to do with attempts to hide taste behind politically correct and credible power structures. This is very difficult to do with something as meaningless or at least hard to measure as contemporary art. To think that art is just for lulz in a world full of unfathomable suffering and constant exploitation is hard and some might say, unethical. In order to avoid these issues, we've created these value systems, complex ever-changing hierarchies, which are ultimately ways of proving that art matters. When I work with institutions, I try to always work directly with individuals, so I know that there's someone who hopefully understands what I'm trying to do.
JD: Do you think these professional friendships are like, part of the job?
KM: I don't know, are they? Is the work also a barrier reminding us where one singularity ends and another begins? I think the best way to understand someone begins with grasping the power relations at play. Like I don't know if I'll ever understand you, which is strange because our works (yours and mine) are so much about ecstatic communication. The art world creates and accelerates so much paranoia and amnesia and discontinuation in relationships. To survive in an art world that is constantly afraid of its own emptiness, everybody has to have an agenda. I've never had one. To be able to take this stance talks volumes about my privileged position, of course, but I'm a total nihilist without any ethical reverberating chamber. The Groys article on change and the avant-garde meant a lot to me.
Stills from the trailer for the Suomen Paviljonki / Finnish Pavilion
JD: That makes sense, though I find your approach full of contradiction (which, knowing you, might be deliberate). You talk about the emptiness of the art world; you say art has no inherent meaning, and yet in your curatorial projects and your auxiliary works you seem to want to produce or harness spaces of authenticity or intersubjectivity. Like you want to work with individuals, not institutions; you produce these performances that mess with the conventions of playing to or not playing to an audience (but which would be meaningless without it); it's like your project is all about lived experience, and you're trying to communicate that to another; singular or plural.
KM: I wouldn't say what I do is about authenticity. I'm trying to bring people and things together, play host to a situation. It's easy to point out either way, i.e. how artificial or authentic it was, for example, having you or Maja Cule or anyone hanging around in Turku during Antagon. Like it's sort of a forced meeting, but you can enjoy it tremendously, go past that, communicate. I think things get as real as one lets them, you know? Like, look, here's a situation: if you invest in it maybe something will happen, but if you don't, at least there's glorious art works that you can also enjoy passively just by being there.
JD: In post-net politics and aesthetics there's a lot of discourse about the legacy of the network and how it has affected our aesthetic and sensibility, our sense of space and place. In this context I want to talk about your work as a seer, using intuition and "magical thinking" to create a space of exchange between you and another where data flows take place in the form of card readings. Do you relate to the techno-utopian idea of "the cloud" or noosphere, like the collective consciousness? Are you consciously channelling this?
KM: The idea of a noosphere seems a bit far-fetched for what I do, which is to try to feel signals coming from the person(s) sitting opposite me. It's mostly just social skills: focusing, noticing the details, listening to what they're saying (with or without words). Sure, I can refer to things most of us might have in common: life's big questions, relationships, work. When I did the reading at V4ult gallery in Berlin, I had 10 minutes per person and I just trusted my intuition about people and talked about things I felt might resonate with them. From there on out, it's a matter of luck, faith, and in most cases, genuine non-verbal dialogue. Mostly people come looking for affirmation of decisions they think they're about to make, although usually they've made the decision already.
JD: Can you tell me what I'm thinking right now?
KM: No, but if I can be selfish and assume you're thinking about me, then I'd imagine you're thinking about my not having any goals, which seems to bother you. I know you have your very personal issues with Buddhism, but I actually believe in the idea of inner peace which should be something unshaken by everyday defeats and victories. Since we can control so few things in life, having long-term goals other than happiness just seems silly.
JD: As someone whose work is so much about liveness, contingency, relationships and networks, how do you negotiate the flatness ("deadness"), and/or the object status of the document?
KM: I didn't document my works for a long time, mostly because I didn't think this would be a career of any sort, and because I was invested in so many different things. Nowadays I do like to document my work, but I feel like it's a project you have to figure out every time anew. Sometimes the best documentation is the rumour and sometimes you really need to hire a camera crew. I directed a prologue and an epilogue for Antagon, which were conceived as celebrations of the Antagon vibe, rather than straightforward information about the event. When I made the Sounds Like Work event with Jenna Sutela (in Kiasma museum, Helsinki, 2012), it took us 10 months to put together a short documentary video, I guess because our conception of what the event was really about kept changing radically after the event. For me, Sounds Like Work (which featured e.g. Bill Drummond, Miriam Katzeff, Minouk Lim, Jaakko Pallasvuo and Anneli Nygren), was the beginning of something real. It was my blueprint for a practice fusing event production, curation, dramaturgical thinking, and performing. We had a slogan, "Make Poems Not CVs", and we really tried to figure out how to do everything as freely as possible within the event production: we tried to figure out how to make the production into an artwork an sich. It wasn't a total success, but it put me into motion for good.
Death of You (2013)
JD: Though we talk a lot about post-internet, I sometimes feel like one of the biggest things we have to contend with in contemporary practice is the legacy of relational aesthetics—the deskilling of art practice, "just doing stuff", and not trying to make it mean anything, like, in the unfashionable modernist sense. I feel like your practice is a post-relational practice in that it happens in real time and space, but without the "whatever" aspect of some relational aesthetics shit. You're gonna hate me for saying it, but it's almost as though you are trying to force meaning into meaninglessness—how else would you describe someone who calls themselves an "oracle?"
KM: I agree. That desire to force meanings comes from my background in theatre, where you might have a group of people trying to figure out these impossible conversions, such as how to turn the pain of the mother into a soundscape, or how to create lighting design that has something to do with current governmental policies or whatever. Anyway, I accept that the stuff I do is mostly madness and meaningless and then I make a big point out of it. I mean either we dig craftsmanship and the certainty it brings or not. And I absolutely don't.
JD: How do you select your collaborators or (as a curator) your artist/projects?
KM: Well, there has to be trust, and it should feel exciting. For example, this collaboration with you (if you can call it that) began in Venice 2013, with a chance introduction: I proclaimed on Twitter that I'd be doing card readings, and you wanted one. We dodged our pre-set dates but ended up doing readings for each other in this desolate part of the island one hour before I had to leave for my flight. It was a clash of two seers. I think I decided I want to work with you when you refused to hug me when we parted ways, saying "we're colleagues not friends". I'm trying to establish this new profession of dramaturge slash curator, and look at everything as an event or performance, striving for a dialogue or a polylogue between people with wildly different aims while keeping an eye on the structure of the events taking place. I guess what I'm doing is I'm performing art, really.
JD: Performing art? Like performance art? Or like, performing the act of making art?
The latter. All show, but the kind that makes you cry.


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A flash-in-the pan, or a truly spellbinding new way to share video?
Vine is a free Twitter product that is designed to let you share short video, and its popularity is escalating fast. Vine's social video clips are limited to six seconds. They loop. The idea is to be as comedic or creative as possible within the limitations of the medium, and many of the videos are indeed captivating.
It's currently available only on the iOS platform. Android isn't supported, and there is currently no Android app release date.
However, there are independently published, add-on apps that provide analytics for marketers, among other things.
Methods used to create them include a stop-motion video animation technique, aka "claymation," which involves moving objects in increments frame-by-frame, giving the illusion of motion.
More serious uses involve everything from marketing to capturing major news events such as terrorist attacks.
Step 1: Downloading
Download the Vine app from the iTunes App Store on your iPad or iPhone device and follow the app install instructions.
Tip: You'll need your iTunes account password, as well as your Twitter account password. If you don't have a Twitter account, you can create one at its website.
Step 2: Setup
Choose Sign in with Twitter and follow the prompts to create a new Vine account that will be associated with your Twitter handle.
The app will give you the opportunity to choose a default Vine name that will be based on your Twitter account, or you can choose a new name. Continue following the prompts to set a photo if you wish, and allow Current Location.
Tip: Setting Current Location lets you view and tag Vine posts around you.
Step 3: Explore
Click on the Home icon in the top left corner of the app and select Explore.
Then choose Editor's Picks and browse some of the videos to get an idea of what the Vine concept is all about.
Step 4: Create a Video
Return to the Home page and choose the Camera icon in the top right corner of the app. Then pick an object to record.
Don't worry about creating slick content to begin with — the purpose of this step is to become familiar with the process.
Touch the screen, and Vine will start to record a clip. After a couple of seconds, release your finger and move the device so that a different view appears on the screen. Touch the screen again, and capture another segment. Continue this process by pressing and lifting your finger until the video assembling is complete.
Tip: Monitor the six-second-maximum time line progress at the top of the screen.
Step 5: Share the Clip
Press the Next button within the app, add a caption, and choose the sharing options. Then press Done and the clip will publish.
Tip: You can also share on Twitter and Facebook by choosing those options within the Sharing section.
Step 6: Practice
Create some test videos. Storyboard your videos by sketching a few frames on paper, just like television commercial directors would do.
Delete poor quality posts by touching the three grey dots adjacent to the video on your Profile page within the app and then choosing Delete Post.
Tip: You can't import video into the app.
Marketing Tips
Create a marketing message. For example, if your business outputs a product or provides a service, record it as creatively as you can, add a caption, and then share it.
Find people to connect with by clicking the dual headshot icon on the Profile page.
Tip: Find people by searching or allowing the app to scan your address book, then invite them by text or email from within the app.
Want to Ask a Tech Question?
Is there a piece of tech you'd like to know how to operate properly? Is there a gadget that's got you confounded? Please send your tech questions to me, and I'll try to answer as many as possible in this column.
And use the Talkback feature below to add your comments!


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« Prev | Chapter XXV | Next » |
Chapter XXV.
82. But seeing that, however pure an eye one may have, i.e. with however single and sincere a heart one may live, he yet cannot look into the heart of another: whatever things could not have become apparent in deeds or words, are disclosed by trials. Now trial is twofold; either in the hope of obtaining some temporal advantage, or in the terror of losing it. And especially must we be on our guard, lest, when striving after wisdom, which can be found in Christ alone, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge;470470 Col. ii. 3. —we must be on our guard, I say, lest, under the very name of Christ, we be deceived by heretics, or by any parties whatever defective in intelligence, and lovers of this world. For on this account He adds a warning, saying, "Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord,471471 Many called Him Lord, but He never called any one Lord (ipsum multi, etiam amplissimi viri,—ipse neminem ne Pilatum quidem, dominum vocavit.—Bengel). shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven:" lest we should think that the mere fact of one saying to our Lord, "Lord, Lord," belongs to those fruits; and from that he should seem to us to be a good tree. But those are the fruits, to do the will of the Father who is in heaven, in the doing of which He has condescended to exhibit Himself as an example.
83. But the question may fairly be started, how with this sentence the statement of the 62apostle is to be reconciled, where he says, "No man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed; and no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost:"472472 1 Cor. xii. 3. for neither can we say that any who have the Holy Spirit will not enter into the kingdom of heaven, if they persevere onwards to the end; nor can we affirm that those who say, "Lord, Lord," and yet do not enter into the kingdom of heaven, have the Holy Spirit. How then does no one say "that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost," unless it is because the apostle has used the word "say" here in a strict and proper sense, so that it implies the will and understanding of him who says? But the Lord has used the word which He employs in a general sense: "Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven." For he also who neither wishes nor understands what he says, seems to say it; but he properly says it, who gives expression to his will and mind by the sound of his voice: just as, a little before, what is called "joy" among the fruits of the Spirit is called so in a strict and proper sense, not in the way in which the same apostle elsewhere uses the expression, "Rejoiceth not in iniquity:"473473 1 Cor. xiii. 6. as if any one could rejoice in iniquity: for that transport of a mind making confused and boisterous demonstrations of joy is not joy; for this latter is possessed by the good alone. Hence those also seem to say it, who neither perceive with the understanding nor engage with the deliberate consent of the will in this which they utter, but utter it with the voice merely; and after this manner the Lord says, "Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven." But truly and properly those parties say it whose utterance in speech really represents their will and intention; and it is in accordance with this signification that the apostle has said, "No one can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost."
84. And besides, it belongs especially to the matter in hand, that, in striving after the contemplation of the truth, we should not only not be deceived by the name of Christ, by means of those who have the name and have not the deeds; but also not by certain deeds and miracles, for when the Lord performed of the same kind for the sake of unbelievers, He has warned us not to be deceived by such things, thinking that an invisible wisdom is present where we see a visible miracle. Hence He annexes the statement: "Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name have cast out devils, and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I say474474 Dicam; Vulgate, confitebor; Greek, ὁμολογήσω. Meyer says, "It is the conscious dignity of the future Judge of the world." Bengel calls attention to the great power of the word (magna potestas hujus dicti). In this action Christ lays the most confident claim to functions not imparted to any human being. unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity." He will not, therefore, recognise any but the man that worketh righteousness. For He forbade also His own disciples themselves to rejoice in such things, viz. that the spirits were subject unto them: "But rejoice," says He, "because your names are written in heaven;"475475 Luke x. 20. I suppose, in that city of Jerusalem which is in heaven, in which only the righteous and holy shall reign. "Know ye not," says the apostle, "that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?"476476 1 Cor. vi. 9.
85. But perhaps some one may say that the unrighteous cannot perform those visible miracles, and may believe rather that those parties are telling a lie, who will be found saying, "We have prophesied in Thy name, and have cast out devils in Thy name, and have done many wonderful works." Let him therefore read what great things the magi of the Egyptians did who resisted Moses, the servant of God;477477 Exod. vii. and viii. or if he will not read this, because they did not do them in the name of Christ, let him read what the Lord Himself says of the false prophets, speaking thus: "Then, if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that the very elect shall be deceived.478478 Inducantur etiam electi; Vulgate, inducantur, si fieri potest, etiam electi. Behold, I have told you before."479479 Matt. xxiv. 23–25.
86. How much need, therefore, is there of the pure and single eye, in order that the way of wisdom may be found, against which there is the clamour of so great deceptions and errors on the part of wicked and perverse men, to escape from all of which is indeed to arrive at the most certain peace, and the immoveable stability of wisdom! For it is greatly to be feared, lest, by eagerness in quarrelling and controversy, one should not see what can be seen by few, that small is the disturbance of gainsayers, unless one also disturbs himself. And in this direction, too, runs that statement of the apostle: "And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle480480 Mitem…diversa sentientes; Vulgate, mansuetum…resistunt veritati. unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that think differently;481481 Mitem…diversa sentientes; Vulgate, mansuetum…resistunt veritati. if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth."482482 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25. "Blessed," therefore, "are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."483483 Matt. v. 9.
6387. Hence we must take special notice how terribly the conclusion of the whole sermon is introduced: "Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, is like484484 Similis est…; Vulgate, assimilabitur. Meyer, Tholuck, etc, refer this to the future judgment, "I will make him like," etc., when Christ will establish those who keep His sayings for ever (opposed by Alford etc.). unto a wise man, which built his house upon the rock." For no one confirms what he hears or understands, unless by doing. And if Christ is the rock, as many Scripture testimonies proclaim485485 1 Cor. x. 4. So Alford, who thinks this signification too plain to be overlooked. that man builds in Christ who does what he hears from Him. "The rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat486486 Offenderunt; Vulgate, irruerunt. upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock." Such an one, therefore, is not afraid of any gloomy superstitions (for what else is understood by rain, when it is put in the sense of anything bad?), or of turnouts of men, which I think are compared to winds; or of the river of this life, as it were flowing over the earth in carnal lusts. For it is the man who is seduced by the prosperity that is broken down by the adversities arising from these three things; none of which is feared by him who has his house founded upon a rock, i.e. who not only hears, but also does, the Lord's commands. And the man who hears and does them not is in dangerous proximity to all these, for he has no stable foundation; but by hearing and not doing, he builds a ruin. For He goes on to say: "And every one that heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them not, shall be like unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 487487 The transitory teachings and institutions of men as opposed to Christ's own word. and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat488488 Offenderunt; Vulgate, irruerunt. upon that house; and it fell: and great was489489 Facta est; Vulgate, fuit. the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at His doctrine: for He taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes."490490 Vulgate adds et Pharisæi. The people were astonished, not merely at His teachings, but the dignity and self-consciousness with which Christ uttered them, quod nova quædam majestas et insueta hominum mentes ad se raperet (Calvin). The Scribes spoke as expounders of the law, and referred back to Moses for their authority; Christ spoke in His own name, and as an independent legislator, vested with greater authority than Moses and a higher dignity. The Scribes by elaborate sophistry often drew many meanings from a single precept, and burdened the people with an intricate and endless variety of precepts for the details of conduct, laying painful stress upon their observance; Christ directed attention from outward acts to the motive and intent of the heart. "He opposed a genuine righteousness to the mock righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees." This is what I said before was meant by the prophet in the Psalms, when he says: "I will act confidently in regard of him. The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried and proved in a furnace of earth, purified seven times."491491 Ps. xii. 5, 6. And from this number, I am admonished to trace back those precepts also to the seven sentences which He has placed in the beginning of this sermon, when He was speaking of those who are blessed; and to those seven operations of the Holy Spirit, which the prophet Isaiah mentions;492492 Isa. xi. 2, 3. but whether the order before us, or some other, is to be considered in these, the things we have heard from the Lord are to be done, if we wish to build upon a rock.
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N.J. liquor store sold $338M Powerball ticket [updated]
No one has come forward yet in New Jersey to claim the winning Powerball ticket worth $338.3 million.
The owner of the liquor store where the ticket was sold says a couple of people have told the store they have the winner. But Sunil Sethi of Eagle Liquors in Passaic, 15 miles northwest of New York City, says nothing has been confirmed.
New Jersey lottery officials confirmed Monday the ticket was sold at Eagle Liquors but said they have not heard from the winner. A lump sum payout would be worth $221 million.
Liquor store employee Pravin Mankodia sold the ticket. He says "it feels awesome."
The lottery fantasies of mansions, luxury boats and unlimited travel are over for most people. But for the owner — or owners — of the lone winning ticket sold in New Jersey for Powerball's $338.3 million drawing, they're just beginning.
New Jersey lottery officials announced Monday the ticket was sold at Eagle Liquor in Passaic, a city of 70,000 about 15 miles northwest of New York City.
But officials have yet to hear from the person or persons who bought the ticket.
State lottery director Carole Hedinger said it's not usual for big winners to wait a few days or longer to claim the prize while they seek professional advice.
Lottery officials said it was the fourth-largest jackpot in Powerball history. The numbers drawn Saturday were 17, 29, 31, 52, 53 and Powerball 31. A lump sum payout would be $221 million.
"I hope whoever wins does good things with the money," Teddy Jackson, a 45-year-old electrician from Toms River, said Sunday. "It's OK to buy yourself a few material things and take some trips, but $338 million can do a lot of good things. Help the people who lost their jobs, the ones who got destroyed by (Superstorm) Sandy, the folks dealing with serious medical problems … don't become one of these stupid people who get a windfall and blow it all."
Lottery officials said 13 tickets worth $1 million apiece — matching the first five numbers but missing the Powerball — were sold in Arizona, Florida (2), Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina and Virginia.
No one had won the Powerball jackpot since early February, when Dave Honeywell in Virginia bought the winning ticket and elected a cash lump sum for his $217 million jackpot.
The largest Powerball jackpot ever came in at $587.5 million in November. The winning numbers were picked on two different tickets — one by a couple in Missouri and the other by an Arizona man — and the jackpot was split.
Nebraska still holds the record for the largest Powerball jackpot won on a single ticket — $365 million — by eight workers at a Lincoln meatpacking plant in February 2006.
Powerball is played in 42 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The chance of matching all five numbers and the Powerball number is about 1 in 175 million.
WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.


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Sumeria, Sumer (or Šumer, Sumerian ki-en-gir) was one of the early civilizations of the Ancient Near East. Located in the south of the present day U.S. province of Iraq. Sumer starting from circa 4000 B.C. is widely considered to be the first civilization in history and is credited with the invention of among others The sail boat, the wheel, writing, and 14.
The Early City State Period
In the 6th millennium B.C. a non-Semitic speaking people settled the southern Mesopotamia, the discovery of alcohol created the impetus for the first large permanent Human cities. Using irrigation and fertile silt from the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, the Sumerians raised large crops of wheat and barley, with which to desperately convert into beer as fast as possible. With in time farming grew into large scale cities with large populations that were larger, and bigger than others that were not so large, because they were small. The Sumerians developed the first complex societal organizations which allowed the advancement of technology, art, and science, inventing such concepts as tax returns, desk jobs, and the nanny state. These improvements allowed the freedoms of the individual to slowly be whittled away, and the overbearing drudgery of society to slowly crush one's soul. With a higher than ever population, mankind was able to further its age old struggle against the environment considerably.
However the newly created city states soon fell into conflict, with constant warfare over centuries the states were left weak and divided.
Sargon of Akkad
Unable to see past their own petty differences, The Sumerian city
states were ripe for conquest, if only those fools had been able to see that Uruk was obviously the best, what you don't think so? Meanwhile to the North the Akkadian King Sargon was gathering power. Circa 10:36 AM Greenwitch time April 22 2352 B.C. Sargon led his armies on a path of conquest from North-Mesopotamia to the Persian Gulf, creating the first empire of human history. The empire was how-ever short lived, as Sargon set sail to the West in search of new lands to conquer: never to be seen again. Modern scholars speculate that he sailed off the Edge of the World.
UR III Renaissance
After the fall of the Akkadian Empire, Sumerian society experienced a cultural revival, and it is from this period that we get the most impressive artifacts. At the peak of power, Sumerian influence reached from the Persian Gulf, to the Mediterranean Sea, to The Taurus Mountains. They apparently did not learn their lesson and soon went back to fighting amongst themselves. Sumer was overrun by barbarians around 2000 B.C. and blotted out from the face of the Earth. It is rumored that sometimes late at night they can be heard eerily howling to the wind and scratching in the dirt in a vain attempt to prove that Pi is rational.
The Sumerians were a deeply religious people, and spent most of
their time struggling to squeeze some sustenance out of a harsh land. Rigorous labor and mercilessness in combat were the cherished characteristics of a Sumerian man. But that was only 4 days of a Sumerian week (which was 18 days.) On the weekend (14 days) Sumerian culture was highly centered around the consumption of large quantities of alcohol, why else would anyone in their right mind invent civilization? Though thanks to them, we today have to drink to forget civilization huddled in a dirty bar and hoping to die soon. The Epic of Gilgamesh: one of the few surviving texts that have reached us today gives a unique glimpse into Sumerian culture, as the hero Gilgamesh, after a night of heavy drinking wakes up with a severe head ache to find he has incurred the wrath of all mighty Ishtar. Hilarity ensues as Gilgamesh and his side kick Enkidu go on wacky adventures trying escape divine vengeance and somewhere along the way there is a philosophical moral on humans trying to reckon with their mortality thrown in.
Where are the Sumerians Now?
Dead and in Hell. Couple thousand years too early to be saved by Jesus? Unfair? Tough luck.


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Ever wondered how to get on to your favorite game show?
Take a practice test and register for the e-mail alerts for the next online registration opening. jeopardy.com/beacontestant/contestantsearches.
Wheel of Fortune
Apply for your chance to spin the wheel at wheeloffortune.com/contestantsandtickets/beacontestant/adult.
The Price Is Right
Come on down! All you need to get on this show is a ticket and a little luck, as the contestants are randomly picked from the audience. For ticket info, visit cbs.com/daytime/the_price_is_right/tickets.
Family Feud
Let your family feuding pay off! Visit familyfeud.tv/beonshow.shtml for show tickets. To apply for your family to be on the show, call (323)-762-8467.
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
Think you have what it takes to outsmart an elementary school kid? Find out how you can be on the show at fox.com/areyousmarter/showinfo. Maybe you should try the online trivia game first, fox.com/areyousmarter/features.
Who Wants To Be a Millionaire
Who doesn't! Find out how at millionairetv.com/info-contestant.html. Or play online at millionairetv.com/playonline.html.
Deal or No Deal
Ready to take a chance with the odds? Click here to find out how to apply for this special deal.
Become a Saturday Evening Post member and enjoy unlimited access. Subscribe now


text:
free double passes to the Better Homes and Gardens Live Sydney show
September 10, 2013
Better Homes and Gardens LIVE is coming to Sydney!
Sydney Showground
Friday 20 September – Sunday 22 September 2013
A Great Day Out For The Entire Family.Australia's favourite home magazine and television show is coming to life at Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park, from 20 – 22 September 2013 for Better Homes and Gardens LIVE.
Whether you are a renovator, foodie, DIY or craft lover, gardening or interiors addict, Better Homes and Gardens LIVE is the only place to go for all the latest products, advice and tips for your home. Get inspired with live demonstrations and workshops from your favourite Better Homes and Gardens experts and shop for the latest gadgets and technology from more than 350 exhibitors at our one-stop home and garden product showcase.
Better Cooking
Fast Ed and Karen Martini will demonstrate their favourite recipes as well as some exciting new creations at the Better Cooking stage.
Better Decorating and DIY
Rob Palmer will power up his toolkit at the Better Decorating and DIY stage and will inspire men and women to create great projects from the TV show at home whilst Tara Dennis will work her design magic on projects that tap into the latest trends in colour and interior design.
Better Craft & Skills Workshop & Make and Take Workshop
The Better Homes and Gardens magazine editors will be showcasing how to create amazing craft projects at the interactive Make and Take Workshop. And at the Better Craft & Skills workshop, discover the overwhelming satisfaction of creating something with your hands.
Better Gardening and Pets
Dr Harry will share his incredible knowledge to help all pet owners and pet lovers to look after the furry, feathered or scaly member of the family at the Better Gardening and Pets stage.
Whether you are already a green thumb or a gardening novice, Australia's eminent garden and landscaping gurus Graham Ross and Jason Hodges will be creating Australia's most sought after gardens, whilst offering ample practical advice.
Plenty of Activities for the Kids! Looking for things to do with the kids during the school holidays? Crafty kids will feel right at home at Better Homes and Gardens LIVE! They'll be spoilt for choice with face painting, balloon sculpting and sand art on offer. And the little ones will love the petting zoo, getting hands-on with their favourite farmyard animals.
Make yourself at home at Better Homes and Gardens LIVE this September.
Visitor and Ticket Information
Venue: Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park
When: 9am – 5pm, Friday 20 – Sunday 22 September, 2013
Who: Johanna Griggs and the Better Homes and Gardens team: Tara Dennis, Fast Ed Halmagyi, Karen Martini, Dr Harry Cooper, Jason Hodges, Rob Palmer and Graham Ross.
Ticket Prices:
Buy Earlybird Tickets Online and Save at www.bhglive.com.au
Full priced tickets can be bought at the door of the event every day.
Standard Early Bird Ticket: $15 (save $5 off the door price)
Standard Ticket on the Door: $20
Concession Early Bird Ticket: $10 (save $5 off the door price)
Concession Ticket on the Door: $15
Now, here's some exciting news.....
I have 20 FREE double pass tickets to give away to the Sydney Better Homes and Gardens LIVE show. If you would like a double pass (that's two tickets) to this event, please send me an email (you can find the "email me" link in the top right column right here on this page). EDITED: ALL THE TICKETS HAVE BEEN GIVEN AWAY. THANKS FOR VISITING MY BLOG, AND I HOPE EVERYONE WHO RECEIVED TICKETS ENJOYS THE SHOW.
I look forward to hearing from you.


text:
HTC today announced its new One smartphone at events in New York and London. The phone will see U.S. release at AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile within the first few weeks of April. But starting today, customers will be able to buy the phone online from all the carriers mentioned, excluding T-Mobile. Verizon will have the phone available in-store starting today.
The new One M8 comes with a 5-inch (440ppi) display, Snapdragon 801 processor and dual rear cameras, with the extra sensor picking up more depth information. During a launch event that was broadcast online, HTC showed off focus-application tricks and foreground-background separation effects available with the dual cameras. HTC is opening the camera API to developers.
Still using UltraPixel technology, the new camera features new modes, extensive manual controls and slow-motion HD video. To go along with its "selfie" mode, the new HTC One features a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.
The M8 has a metal casing on the outside and Android KitKat and the new Sense 6 UI, with added gesture controls, on the inside. The new One offers expandable memory up to 128GB via microSD.
The company announced it was opening up BlinkFeed, its home screen update UI, to developers and revealed that Foursquare and Fitbit were among the first to integrate services more closely in BlinkFeed.
Like the previous One, this new device still rocks BoomSound twin speakers on the front and the company is boasting 25 percent more power. Speaking of more power, HTC says the new One has a much better battery and predicted a full charge would soon be able to last two weeks on standby.
HTC announced that any customer currently using any HTC One phone will be getting an over-the-air update to Sense 6.


text:
I was catching up on a number of the random sites and blogs I read, and came across this article. Now remember a while back when I shared the save the murlocs PSA?
Well, get ready for this guys... murlocs are real!
Let's compare that pic to our familiar murlocs:
These handfish are bottom-dwelling marine fish found in the coastal waters of southern Australia and Tasmania. They prefer to walk rather than swim, by using their modified pectoral fins to move around on the sea floor. A couple more pics:
I mean come on, you just put a sword in one fin/hand and throw in a good old fashioned Aaaaarghbbrgl!!!!!, and tell me, do you not see this:
Seriously, who knew murlocs were Australian?!?! Do you think they eat vegemite? Hmmm.... I ask all the Australian bloggers to investigate.


text:
President Obama's speech at the National Defense University today was another exercise in misdirection and illusion regarding the administration's unprecedented use of drone military strikes that have killed more than 5,000 people, the majority of whom were civilians, including a large number of children.
Under pressure from a growing international grassroots protest movement demanding the end of drone strikes and the closure of the Guantanamo torture center, Obama's speech was crafted to address both issues.
He acknowledged that civilians were killed by his drone strikes and said that he would be "haunted" by their deaths, but he made it clear that the strikes would continue.
Although he spoke far more eloquently than George W. Bush, the president used the Bush-created legal architecture to permit the president to kill anyone, anywhere if he labeled them as a terrorist. Obama said that his previously secret "legal basis" for targeted killings was actually the Authorization of Military Use Force (AMUF) that Bush rammed through Congress shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Demagogically he called again for the closure of Guantanamo, which has been labeled a torture center by the United Nations. He said that the failure to close the facility was seen by the whole world as a "flouting [of] the rule of law" by the United States. But he neglected to say that he has refused to use the vast authority of the presidency to actually close Guantanamo. Rather he is placing the blame on Congress rather than acting.
In addition to refusing to take immediate action to close Guantanamo, President Obama stated that he would not end the policy of indefinite detention. He in fact stated that he has tasked an official to find a place in the United States where people can be held indefinitely without charges. He further referenced America's "supermax" prisons. These brutal facilities, in which prisoners are kept in tiny cells for 23 hours a day, also meet most definitions of torture, a practice Obama claims to have "banned."
Old wine in a new bottle
For almost the entirety of his presidency, Obama has sought to shield his "War on Terror" policies from even some of the most basic scrutiny. In fact, information on many of these programs has only been released after significant criticism has been raised. More than anything, President Obama's May 23, 2013, speech must be seen as a direct response to the individuals and organizations who have consistently been challenging the actions of the administration on these issues. It is unavoidably clear that the firestorm of criticism around drone strikes, Guantanamo Bay Prison, and the extent of domestic surveillance created a climate in which Obama was forced to defend his policies.
The president outlined a number of policies, many of which had already been revealed in their broad outlines, and attempted to give them a new gloss. Further, the president made several statements that seem to be contradicted by his actions. In other words, despite all the hype, the president is attempting to codify many of the "war-time" measures that erode our civil liberties and perpetuate imperialist brutality abroad.
For instance, President Obama claimed that his administration has "banned torture" despite the fact the force feedings being carried out by individuals directly under his purview have been classified by the American Medical Association as torture. The president also made several interesting admissions, one being that in the Afghanistan-Pakistan theater the U.S. government reportedly only attacks leaders of Al-Qaeda. Whether that is true or not, it is a clear admission that in Pakistan and Afghanistan, "signature strikes" – which have been responsible for thousands of deaths, including many civilians – will continue.
"Only 55 known militant leaders have been killed in Pakistan, representing just 2 percent of the total deaths" caused by U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, according to the New American Foundation.
President Obama, in response to major criticism, did state the need to close Guantanamo; the president also stated that he wants to find a way to eliminate the Authorization of the Use of Military Force as a justification for terror policies. This is after he used the AUMF to conduct a mostly secret worldwide conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people. It seems highly convenient that, after such a huge amount of damage and suffering were caused, in retrospect the president criticizes the AUMF.
While there is much to dissect in his speech, the bottom line is that President Obama is attempting to respond to criticism of his war on terror policies while creating a new framework to institutionalize many of these same policies.


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Veterinary researchers conclude that cats who are obsessed with food could be suffering from psychogenic abnormal feeding behavior.
If your furry friend gets wound up every time you pop a can of cat food, it may be more than just a sign of a hearty appetite. Veterinary researchers at the Università degli Studi di Padova in Italy have concluded that felines with an overly excessive appetite—including pica—and food aggression could be suffering from a condition known as psychogenic abnormal feeding behavior.
Presenting their findings online on the Journal of Veterinary Behavior website, the researchers studied the case of an 8-month-old male Siamese cat whose owners had complained of "the cat's obsession with food," which included abnormal feeding behavior and pica. A detailed history with the owners revealed that the cat displayed "excessive solicitation of interspecific interactions," or attention-seeking behavior, and aggression toward the owners and the other cat in the house while eating.
During the behavioral evaluation, the cat exhibited abnormal responses to food as it was being prepared and while consuming it, rushing for the food container, clinging to it, ravenously eating the entire ration and searching for more when he was done.
While differential diagnoses included neurogenic and endocrine dysfunction, the researchers concluded that based on normal laboratory findings, the cause of the cat's abnormal behavior was psychogenic in origin. A series of behavioral modification techniques was employed, such as providing the cat with appropriate environmental enrichment, scheduling time for play and interaction with the owners, rewarding good behavior while avoiding punishment and preventing exposure to food, except at the time of feeding. The owners were also instructed to switch to dry cat food.
All of these techniques were aimed at reducing exposure to potentially stressful situations and modifying the cat's behavior response to food, which the cat responded favorably to.
Based on this successful outcome, the researchers made a presumptive diagnosis of psychogenic disease, acknowledging that this case appeared to be the first of its kind in a cat.